Intuit Looking into User Generated Unemployment - the Reward of Social Media?

Posted by Tom Foremski - July 21, 2008

I'm at Fortune's Brainstorm conference. Brad Smith CEO of Intuit was on stage and made some interesting comments. He said that he has asked his managers to see what salaries Intuit is paying for that could be voluntarily done by users.

He said that Intuit users have been better at answering questions than Intuit employees. This is why Intuit is looking to save on salaries, which are traditionally the largest cost at any company.

What happens, as it will, when other companies adopt this same approach?! User generated unemployment. Is this a good thing? Is this one of the best business practices associated with social media? Will users hold back on advice if they know that people might lose their jobs?